Underfunding has left a “yawning gap” in the UN Refugee Agency’s ability to protect forcibly displaced people worldwide from the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UNHCR said on Friday.
The number of refugees given shelter in safe host countries plunged last year because of pandemic border restrictions, which continue to hamper the resettlement of vulnerable people.
– COVID-19 infections rise 8 per cent in a week, Delta variant now in 132 countries
– Myanmar: Rights expert calls for ‘COVID ceasefire’, urges UN action
– Cornerstone treaty of refugee protection turns 70
The number of people fleeing wars, violence, persecution, and human rights violations, rose last year to nearly 82.4 million people, a further four percent increase on top of the already record-high of 79.5 million, recorded at the end of 2019.
The COVID-19 pandemic is worsening the already difficult situation of older refugees across Latin America, according to a joint assessment published on Wednesday by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and the NGO HelpAge International.
Violent conflict, terrorism and human rights abuses continue in Syria as its besieged population suffers economic destitution, displacement, detention and abduction, the UN’s Special Envoy for the country told the Security Council on Wednesday.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has appealed to the Government of the United States to “swiftly lift” the public health-related asylum restrictions that remain in effect at the southern border, and to restore access to asylum for the people “whose lives depend on it”.
